Vodafone keeps stake in Verizon Wireless, joins WiMAX Forum

British mobile phone operator Vodafone said on Wednesday it will hold on to its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless in order to keep a presence in the U.S. mobile phone market.

Vodafone’s minority stake in Verizon Wireless is valued at $50 billion. Verizon Communications owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless and reportedly wanted to gain full control of Verizon Wireless. Vodafone exercised its option to keep its stake in Verizon Wireless a day before the deadline.

Vodafone also announced that it has joined the WiMAX Forum. The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led non-profit organization that is comprised of more than 470 companies, including 141 operators that are committed to promoting and certifying interoperable WiMAX products. WiMAX products are designed to deliver wireless broadband services to both residential customers and businesses.

“Our membership of the WiMAX Forum will complement our existing memberships of other key industry bodies such as the GSMA, 3GPP and the Next Generation Mobile Network initiative,” said Steve Pusey, Vodafone’s global chief technology officer, in a prepared statement. "Vodafone remains technology neutral as far as our future network options are concerned, and joining the WiMAX Forum is a logical step as we seek to evaluate the full capabilities and potential of this technology."